Healthworks Community Fitness (HCF) is seeking the generous support of Gymtopia for a dynamic and innovative program dedicated to youth wellness. Fitspiration (Healthy Inspiration meets Perspiration!) empowers youth ages 5-12 from the Boston neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan to take charge of their own health and wellness through a structured, medical-based fun afterschool program. Fitspiration meets 3 days per week, for one hour per age group, 180 minutes of physical fitness per week. Youth are engaged in a progressive fitness training class for a duration of 6 weeks, where many re-enroll throughout the year. Evaluation through pre/post tests show an increase in physical fitness and endurance in addition to a better understanding of nutrition, healthy eating and decision making.

This is the story of how Franco’s Athletic Club located in the American state of Louisiana is using generosity to become one of the world’s most admired health clubs. It is written by Ray Algar, founder of Gymtopia.

I first met Sandy Franco, one of the co-owners, when she was presenting at the 2013 IHRSA European Congress in Madrid. Her message was a simple one: Invest in your community and the community will invest in your club. Sandy and Ron, her husband, have consistently pursued this strategy for 26 years.

Between 3 April to 2 May 2014, Technogym organised an innovative social campaign that called on facilities to ‘donate’ physical activity towards a good cause – that of getting local communities more active and promoting wellness education in local schools.

Over 21,000 people in 180 fitness clubs around the globe participated in the challenge, collecting more than 100 million ‘MOVEs’. A ‘MOVE’ is Technogym’s unit of measure for movement.. The facility with the most MOVEs in each country won the opportunity to donate a full set of Easy Line equipment, together with training for staff and a wellness seminar, to a local school of their choice.

Imagine you are a 23-year old American soldier deployed to western Afghanistan. Life is highly organised because it is ‘mission driven’. Everyday your life, and those of your comrades, depends on you bringing your ‘A game’ to the battlefield in pursuit of the shared mission. You are a valued part of a team and if the day comes that you have to sacrifice your life in pursuit of the mission, or to protect a comrade, you’d do it, all would, because we are a team. But what happens when the mission ends and its time to return home and transition to life as a civilian? Life after war should be a far simpler mission, but for far too many US military veterans, it is one they are poorly equipped to deal with. Adjusting to the rhythm of civilian life becomes a daily challenge because it now lacks purpose and those unique skills acquired and honed on the battlefield are not in demand here. For many, this can lead to depression and addiction to alcohol and drugs.